A pirate’s view of piracy

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BBC’s Click have published an article in which they interview Fredrick Neij and Peter Sunde, of The Pirate Bay. The reason the site still exists is that they can’t be prosecuted for searching for pirate material. It would only become illegal if they actually hosted the stuff. That and the fact that a number of people got very upset when they tried to close it down.

I thought this quote from Peter Sunde offered food for thought:

“Nobody is crying that people who used to go around selling ice to people do not have a job anymore because of the fridge. It would be stupid but it is the same thing… Technology has changed. You can’t go back, there’s no way to go back. And I don’t think there’s a will to go back.”

And not an “aargh” or a “yo-ho-ho” in sight.

I thought it was interesting to see the perspective of the much-vilified pirates on this issue. I really don’t want my favourite musicians and film makers to “not have a job anymore” due to pirates, but all the same, I can’t help but think they do have a point.

Yeah, that was reported on TorrentFreak. I doubt that he’ll achieve anything; the Swedish government themselves couldn’t take action against that site. The Pirate Bay aren’t the ones hosting the file, after all. He might as well sue Google over a search result.